O’Sullivan describes and analyzes the economic and political impact of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The boom in oil and gas produced by fracking—the “windfall” of this informative book’s title—has placed a severe strain on Russia and the oil-producing countries of the Middle East but has benefited China, European states, and especially the United States. O’Sullivan explores the possibility that the new abundance in energy might replace the risk of a U.S.-Chinese rivalry for scarce resources with the opportunity to establish a cooperative arrangement between the two countries that could produce stability in energy markets around the world.
